Fischer’s first Filipino friend: He was very special
By Artemio T. Engracia Jr.
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:10:00 01/20/2008
MANILA, Philippines–FLORENCIO CAMPOMANES, the country’s chess pioneer and former president of the International Chess Federation (Fide), was Bobby Fischer’s original Filipino friend.
They met in New York in the mid-1950s when Fischer was emerging as a chess phenom barely into his teens and Campomanes was shuttling between New York and Washington DC while working for the State Department.
‘‘I doubt very much if he remembered the first time we met. He was very young, maybe 10 or 11,” Campomanes recalled. Campomanes said he was visiting the Brooklyn Chess Club where someone pointed to him a very promising but very nondescript boy named Robert Fischer.
A few years later, they met again. Campomanes was in Toronto with the 19-year-old Rodolfo Tan Cardoso, then the Philippine junior champion, for the world junior chess championship. After the tournament, they went to New York to arrange a match with Fischer, who had become the American junior champion at 14. Needless to say, Fischer beat Cardoso, but not before the Filipino youngster eked out one and a half points from the American. (Some accounts pegged the score at 6-2.)
Fischer’s friendship with Campomanes blossomed in the next couple of decades. In 1967, Fischer walked out of the 1967 Interzonal chess tournament, part of the long elimination series that would pick a challenger for the world champion in a dispute over his observance of the Sabbath. Campomanes took the occasion to invite Fischer to the Philippines.
He readily accepted and made his first trip to the Philippines to play in what was aptly called the Beat Bobby Fischer Series against the likes of Cardoso, Renato Naranja and Rosendo Balinas, three of the first four Filipinos to achieve the rank of international master (Eugene Torre, before he became Asia’s first grandmaster, was the third Filipino to become an IM).
Fischer made a grand total of $2,000 from that series, which was sponsored by Meralco. Out of the prize, he tried to give Campomanes, the event’s organizer, a few hundred dollars as commission. Campomanes refused to take it, but that gesture, duplicated many times after that, made Fischer very special to Campomanes.
Here is the full story.
Fact of the matter is Bobby has no good things to say about Campo the crook, but rather was more closer to Torre and Balinas, who almost beat him in their drawn ‘Beat Bobby Fischer’ Match.
The true story is that Commissioner Campo really wanted half of Fischer’s the commission, typical of his chess dealings.
They do not call Campo the ‘commissioner” for nothing. His share of tournaments he ran in the Philippines were almost 50%. Most often there are no prizes given as sponsors balk in supporting his tournaments.
Campo took in 12 million pesos during the 92′ Chess Olympiad in the Philippine. And was convicted for it.
Now how much money did he take out from FIDE?
At the time, Fischer owed Campomanes $3,000. Campomanes said he had given up hope of collecting the money, but he got the surprise of his life when he received the payment two years ago—a quarter of a century later.
‘‘It just goes to show that Bobby Fischer was a very honest man,” Campomanes said.
I don’t see how that shows honesty?! That’s promoting owing money for 25 years, a very bad idea. Booo.
Bobby is a sad tragedy kid. He really needed somebody who can mentor him during his young period.